Setting Economics
The economy of Defined is not meant to work like other common TTRPG systems. Magic items and adventuring gear matter, but they should not be the largest store of wealth in the world. A +5 weapon is an incredible piece of personal equipment. A working farm, a mill, a dock, a mine, a legal market charter, or a well-placed shop should usually be worth much more.
This is because property is not just a thing someone owns. It produces money, controls access, gives people a place to live and work, and often comes with legal rights. A sword can win a fight. A mill can feed a town, employ people, collect fees, and make the owner important.
As a note, this setting also assumes that competent craft is common. The average working craftsperson is around HD 10. These people are professionals, not peasants with a hammer. If a town supports a trade, that trade can usually produce good work. Basic goods, tools, clothing, weapons, and repairs should not be treated like rare treasure unless the area is poor, isolated, under siege, or missing the relevant craft.
Pricing Assumptions
Use these assumptions when deciding whether a price feels right.
- Ordinary raw materials are cheap when they are local.
- Finished goods cost more because they require time, tools, training, fitting, waste, and merchant profit.
- Skilled labor is common enough that ordinary equipment is not automatically rare.
- Excellent work still requires the right professional, workspace, and materials.
- Magical and special-material goods require a supply chain, not just enough gold.
- Property should be priced like something that makes money and creates influence.
- Local abundance can lower a price, but taxes, guilds, law, distance, danger, and scarcity can raise it quickly.
In general, personal equipment answers the question, "can a capable character buy this?" Property answers the question, "who controls this place?"
Property Values
Property prices are intentionally much higher than ordinary adventuring gear. They represent land, buildings, water, storage, legal recognition, workers, defensibility, tools, reputation, and earning potential. These are not hard rules, but they give the Definition Master a place to start.
| Property | Typical Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rural cottage or small town roomholding | 8,000 gp to 20,000 gp | A place to live with a small legal claim, but not much productive land |
| Modest farmstead | 25,000 gp to 80,000 gp | House, fields, outbuildings, tools, access to animals, and water rights |
| Urban shopfront | 40,000 gp to 150,000 gp | The street matters as much as the building; a good location can multiply the value |
| Working craft workshop | 75,000 gp to 300,000 gp | Specialized tools, fixtures, storage, apprentices, and an existing trade reputation |
| Mill, kiln yard, tannery, forge house, or similar productive site | 100,000 gp to 500,000 gp | More valuable when tied to water, fuel, ore, clay, hides, or regular buyers |
| Warehouse, dock berth, caravan yard, or market hall share | 150,000 gp to 750,000 gp | Controls the movement of goods, which can matter more than the goods currently stored there |
| Manor, fortified estate, or large agricultural holding | 500,000 gp to 3,000,000 gp | Usually includes tenants, defenses, obligations, rights, and political duties |
| Mine, quarry, major dock, bridge toll, or chartered market right | 1,000,000 gp or more | Often cannot be freely bought without noble, civic, guild, or temple approval |
These numbers are not meant to turn a campaign into accounting. They are anchors. If the party is rewarded with land, a mill, a ship berth, or a legal charter, that reward may be worth more than their gear while still being hard to sell, divide, move, or turn into adventuring equipment. Selling property takes buyers, permission, time, and local trust.
Settlement Types
Settlement type determines what can usually be bought, commissioned, repaired, or gathered nearby. A settlement can count as a higher tier for one trade if that trade is its specialty. A mining village might have excellent metal supply while still being terrible for books, medicine, or fine clothing.
| Settlement | Typical Population | Common Capability | Common Resources | Usually Scarce |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steading | 20 to 200 | Household craft, basic repair, food production, simple outfitting | Food, timber, fiber, hides, clay, cordage, simple tools | Specialized metalwork, alchemy, magical stock, luxury goods |
| Village | 200 to 1,000 | Routine trade, common equipment, simple weapons, basic medicine | Local crops, livestock, leather, wood, stone, herbs, common minerals | Masterwork commissions, graded portions above Average, special materials |
| Market Town | 1,000 to 5,000 | Regular markets, guild shops, repairs, and masterwork commissions in local trades | Regional produce, textiles, metal fittings, worked lumber, livestock, preserved food | Flawless portions, imbuement components, exotic materials, high-end magical goods |
| Specialty Town | 1,000 to 10,000 | One or two strong industries with excellent tools and trained specialists | Depends on specialty: ore, glass, horses, ships, paper, dyes, salt, ceramics, alchemy | Goods outside the specialty may be no better than a normal village or market town |
| Fortress or Garrison Town | 1,000 to 20,000 | Arms, armor, food stores, mounts, repairs, doctors, and siege supplies | Metal, leather, timber, grain, salted food, bolts, arrows, medicine, hard labor | Luxury goods, illegal goods, unusual magic, politically sensitive materials |
| Port or Caravan City | 5,000 to 50,000 | Bulk trade, storage, transport, foreign goods, money changing, and information | Almost any ordinary material, imported textiles, spices, rare woods, metals, alchemy stock | Restricted goods, land, quiet transactions, reliable prices during crisis |
| Great City | 50,000 or more | Multiple guilds, universities, temples, magical suppliers, and major commissions | Broad ordinary supply, Good and Excellent portions, imbuement couplings, specialist tools | Flawless stock, artifacts, sovereign rights, anything monopolized by guild or law |
Local Specialties
Specialties are how a settlement becomes memorable. A place should have things it makes well, things it needs from elsewhere, and people who control the important parts of that trade.
| Specialty | Common Materials | Common Services | Adventure Pressure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | Grain, fruit, vegetables, livestock, fiber, leather, oils, wax | Food contracts, animal handling, carts, field tools, seasonal labor | Drought, blight, water rights, bandits, tax pressure, monster predation |
| Forestry | Timber, charcoal, pitch, herbs, fungi, game, bark, resin | Carpentry, bowstaves, wagons, shelters, cordage, Bushcraft guides | Territorial spirits, fires, illegal cutting, dangerous beasts, road control |
| Mining or Quarrying | Ore, stone, gems, salt, clay, coal, mineral reagents | Metal supply, stonework, tools, excavation, hauling, assay work | Cave-ins, labor disputes, claim jumping, toxic seepage, things found underground |
| River or Coast | Fish, salt, shells, coral, reeds, imported cargo, ship timber | Boats, nets, navigation, ferrying, docks, preservation, warehousing | Storms, pirates, tolls, smuggling, blockades, water monsters |
| Textiles and Dye | Wool, linen, silk, cotton, dye plants, mordants, thread, felt | Clothing, tents, packs, uniforms, padded armor, Shadeweave commissions if available | Guild control, counterfeit cloth, dye scarcity, fashion politics, labor exploitation |
| Smithing and Arms | Iron, steel, charcoal, leather, wood, horn, wire, rivets | Weapons, armor, shields, locks, tools, fittings, masterwork repair | Military demand, ore shortage, sabotage, restricted designs, weapon licensing |
| Alchemy and Medicine | Elemental portions, herbs, glassware, oils, salts, organs, clean water | Potions, grenades, oils, antidotes, poultices, diagnosis, ingredient appraisal | Contamination, plague, rare harvests, poaching, dangerous supply expeditions |
| Imbuement and Magical Industry | Force couplings, Void couplings, special materials, precision tools, rare reagents | Enhancement, magical item repair, focus work, wards, high-value commissions | Guild secrecy, theft, unstable workshops, political patrons, controlled components |
| Scholarship or Temple Work | Paper, ink, vellum, relic metals, incense, medicines, preserved specimens | Records, identification, legal witness, ritual support, education, healing | Doctrinal conflict, censored knowledge, relic claims, succession disputes |
Availability Guidelines
When a character wants to buy or commission something, first decide whether the settlement has the relevant trade. Gold does not make an item appear. It pays the person who can make it, moves the materials to where they are needed, or convinces someone to part with stock they already have.
| Good or Service | Minimum Normal Settlement | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Household goods, food, common clothing, rope, simple tools | Steading or Village | Usually available if the settlement is stable |
| Common weapons, basic armor repair, travel kits, mounts | Village or Market Town | A garrison can provide these even if it is small |
| Masterwork mundane equipment | Market Town | Requires the right craftsperson; a specialty town may be better than a larger city |
| Poor or Average elemental portions | Village with herbalist or Market Town | More common near the relevant terrain or harvest |
| Good elemental portions | Market Town or Specialty Town | Usually limited stock or commission work |
| Excellent elemental portions | Great City or strong Specialty Town | May require contacts, a wait, or a known source |
| Flawless elemental portions | Case by case | Treat as treasure, a major commission, or a named supply chain |
| Imbuement couplings | Great City or magical Specialty Town | Often controlled by guilds, institutions, armies, temples, or wealthy patrons |
| Special materials such as Dragonhide, Shorehl, or Shadeweave | Specialty Town, Port, or Great City | Availability depends on the source, legality, and whether anyone nearby can work it |
| Enhanced weapons, armor, accessories, or foci | Great City or relevant magical industry | The item may need to be commissioned even when no finished item is sitting on a shelf |
A place can have money without having stock. Nobles, temples, guilds, banks, and merchant houses may be able to pay enormous sums while ordinary shops cannot. Likewise, a village near a rare herb field might have Good elemental portions during the right season while still lacking basic metal armor.
Common Resource Logic
Resources should come from the geography and the work of the settlement.
- Farms produce food, fiber, leather, wax, oil, alcohol, animals, and labor.
- Forests produce timber, charcoal, pitch, herbs, fungi, game, bark, resin, and hidden hazards.
- Hills and mountains produce ore, stone, gems, salt, hardy animals, cold herbs, and difficult transport.
- Rivers produce fish, reeds, clay, mills, ferry rights, irrigation, trade access, and disease risk.
- Coasts produce fish, salt, shells, kelp, coral, ship work, foreign cargo, and smuggling routes.
- Deserts produce salt, glass sand, rare minerals, hardy textiles, preserved goods, and expensive water.
- Swamps produce reeds, peat, venom, medicine, dye plants, insects, rot-resistant woods, and dangerous travel.
- Magical regions produce elemental portions, special materials, altered wildlife, unstable ruins, and regulation.
If a resource is local, its raw form may be cheap. If the same resource is refined, preserved, transported, worked into gear, or sold under monopoly, its price can be much higher.
Using Economics in Play
Economics should create decisions rather than paperwork. Use it when it affects travel, rewards, commissions, factions, or what the party can actually find.
A small settlement can reward the party with hospitality, information, repairs, a guide, harvest rights, or a letter to a larger patron even if it cannot pay in coin. A wealthy city can pay in coin, but it may also demand contracts, permits, taxes, or political favors. A guild can make a commission possible, but the same guild can also make it slow, expensive, or conditional.
When in doubt, decide three things:
- What does this place make better than its neighbors?
- What does it need from elsewhere?
- Who controls the property, tools, road, resource, or legal right that makes the local economy work?
The answers usually tell the Definition Master what is common, what is expensive, what can be stolen, what can be negotiated, and what is worth fighting over.